Visa Inc. on Wednesday said its third-quarter profit slipped 2 percent, hurt by a sharp drop in investment income, but it posted increased operating income and maintained a strong forecast for its fiscal year.
The San Francisco company posted net income of $716 million, or 97 cents per share, for the period ended June 30. That compared with net income of $729 million, or 97 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter.
Revenue rose 23 percent to $2.03 billion from $1.65 billion last year.
The results topped Wall Street expectations for profit of 93 cents per share on revenue of $1.97 billion.
The decline reflected a dip in investment income to $1 million from $504 million a year ago. On an operating basis, income rose 38 percent to $1.14 billion, from $822 million last year.
Chairman and CEO Joseph Saunders said in a statement that Visa saw improvements in global cross-border transactions and payments volume. Cross-border volume rose 17 percent for the quarter, while total processed transactions gained 14 percent, to 11.7 billion.
The company, which says about 70 percent of all the transactions it processes now involve either debit or prepaid cards, said it's too early to tell what impact it will feel from limits to the fees charged to merchants for processing debit card payments that were written into the financial overhaul law signed by President Barack Obama last week.
"It goes without saying, the United States debit market will undergo changes following implementation of the Wall Street reform and consumer protection act next year," Saunders said. He added that the new rules will not stem the global shift from cash and checks to plastic.
Andy Miedler, senior technology analyst at Edward Jones, said the uncertainty regarding the regulatory reforms has weighed on Visa's stock, but the earnings results showed the quarter was "business as usual for Visa."
He said he expects the final rules regarding the debit card fees, which will be written by the Federal Reserve, will have only a modest earnings impact.
"The Fed has been a fair body looking at interchange in the past," he said, using an industry term for those fees. "We have hopes for the same going forward."
Visa is now focusing on its acquisition of CyberSource Corp., which closed last week. The purchase seeks to tap the growing global market for online payments and make use of CyberSource's fraud prevention technology. CyberSource has a hand in processing about 25 percent of all U.S. e-commerce payments.
The company said it continues to expect revenue growth of 11 to 15 percent in its fiscal year, and earnings per share growth of 20 percent or higher.
That implies full fiscal year revenue of between $7.67 billion to $7.95 billion, and earnings per share of at least $3.72.
Wall Street has forecast, on average, annual revenue of $7.97 billion and earnings per share of $3.90.
Shares edged up 82 cents, or 1 percent, to $76 in aftermarket electronic trading, from their close in the regular session at $75.18.
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